Boundary wall: Biden administration asks Supreme Court to stop arguments

The Justice Department said Biden directed a “break in construction” so the government could assess the legality of the financing and contracting methods used to build the wall. ‘The American Civil Liberties Union, Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition asked the Supreme Court last year to build the wall.
Only a few hours after his presidency, Biden immediately fired one of the most important legacies of his predecessor when he signed a proclamation in which the border wall construction was to end. The administration filed on Monday shows how the Justice Department in Biden is bringing buildings to a standstill as it reviews the actions of the former government.

Biden’s administration is also beginning to file lawsuits under Trump that were intended to obtain private land for the construction of boundary walls, according to court documents and lawyers.

In a separate case at the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice is asking to suspend oral argument in a case over the Trump-era policy that requires non-Mexican migrants to stay in Mexico until their next court date in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security recently suspended enrollment for the program, indicating a move to end it altogether. The case is scheduled for March 1. Thousands of policy-makers are still waiting in Mexico for dangerous and deplorable conditions.

Organizations challenging the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy in the lawsuit include the Innovation Law Lab, along with other real-life immigrant groups.

Biden wastes no time appointing officials to block Trump's immigration policy

The Biden government will reverse the Trump administration policy. In the short term, Elizabeth Prelogar, acting attorney general of Biden, is expected to play a key role in driving a wave of potential turnaround on issues such as immigration, health care and religion.

Biden is expected to sign more executive action on immigration in the White House on Tuesday.

Attempts to seize the boundary wall have fallen

During Trump’s presidency, dozens of lawsuits have been filed to seize private land with the goal of building additional barriers to the border, allowing some landowners to survive the legal challenges and the coronavirus pandemic. But with Biden’s executive order off the wall, these efforts are now silent.

In one court document, filed on January 22, the Department of Justice called for a continuation of a land seizure case for ‘at least 60 days’, citing Biden’s proclamation of the inauguration day which was in part a review of the direct funds raised for the construction of the wall.

In another case, the Justice Department said it would reject an immediate possession motion, according to Ricardo de Anda, a lawyer for Guillermo Caldera, who lives in Laredo, Texas, and whose property is in danger of being taken. word.

‘We are delighted by the court to take judicial notice of the Executive Order signed by President Biden, which halted the construction of Trump’s border wall, to order the government to notify the court and the parties whether he plan to continue taking over Texas properties, “de Anda said in a statement. Two other cases expect similar motions to be filed, de Anda said.

Ricky Garza, a staff attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, a group of legal attorneys representing landowners in land grabbing cases, told CNN’s property owners that they have a ‘hold pattern’.

“There was a break and that’s positive,” Garza said. “What needs to happen now is that the administration is reviewing and dismissing all these issues.”

Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, a critic of Trump’s boundary wall, said last Thursday that the government had notified his office that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was suspending fixed acquisitions in accordance with Biden’s executive order.

“Today, I learned that in accordance with President Biden’s executive order, property acquisition activities such as surveys and negotiations with landowners have been put on track in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” Cuellar said in a statement.

The justice department declined to comment.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which provides guidance and oversight of border projects, “has suspended work on all border infrastructure projects for DoD and DHS until further notice,” said Raini Brunson, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Dror Ladin, senior staff advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union’s national security project, praised the decision to delay the Supreme Court’s oral argument, but said more needs to be done.

“It’s a good start that the Biden government is not in a hurry to defend Trump’s illegal wall in court, but just braking is not enough. Trump’s wall has destroyed frontier communities, the environment and tribal areas,” said Ladin. “It’s time for the Biden government to act for border communities, and to commit to damaging the environment and tearing down the wall.”

Trump has expedited lawsuits

The Trump administration has accelerated the filing of cases over the past four years in its efforts to build additional barriers to the southern border. At the heart of these matters were landowners, some of whom supported the wall and others who criticized it.

Joseph Hein, a landowner in Laredo on whose property is under review to build, has described the past four years in a ‘state of limbo’.

“I was basically at the mercy of giving them the information they wanted to give me, and basically the information they gave me was nothing,” Hein said, referring to the Army Corps of Engineers and Customs and Border Protection.

Biden’s proclamation ends Trump’s national emergency declaration, which allowed the previous government to plunge into Pentagon funds, and calls for the review of contracts.

The changes to the boundary wall made so far under Biden have also raised questions in the ongoing boundary wall cases. Shortly after the announcement of Biden’s proclamation, Judge Haywood Gilliam ordered the parties to file an update by February 16.

CNN’s Ed Lavandera and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.

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